blühtevsblutenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“blühte” and “bluten” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,068
“blühte” frequency rank
#21,554
“bluten” frequency rank
64622
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blühte bluten
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs blühen austreten von Blut aus Blutgefäßen

Where the eye mixes blühte and bluten

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. blühte (CCVCCV) and bluten (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
blühte
6 ch
bluten

Why the eye confuses blühte with bluten

A purely visual mix-up. blühte ([ˈblyːtə]) and bluten ([ˈbluːtn̩]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64622, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blühte is recorded at frequency rank #43,068, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈblyːtə]. bluten is at rank #21,554, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈbluːtn̩].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 64622, this pair ranks #635,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blühte vs bluten

Shared letters: belt. Private to "blühte": hü. Private to "bluten": nu.

"blühte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "bluten" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bluten ← bbluten · blluten · bltuen · bluetn · blutenn · blutne · blutten · bulten

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blühte" and "bluten" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈblyːtə] versus [ˈbluːtn̩]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "blühte" or "bluten"?
"bluten" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,554 in our German list, against #43,068 for "blühte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "blühte" and "bluten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "blühte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bluten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #635,000 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blühte" and "bluten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beugte vs blühte". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #635,000 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list